Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-10
Christ Shilling the Storm on Lake
GaIiIee Described by the Great
Brooklyn Divine.
The Importance of Having q Savior
Always With Us That We Can Call
on Him in Time Of Danger.
We Have No Risht to Engage in Any En-
terprise without First Having
ChEist on Our Side.
Special to the Gazette.

! entitled: Inc tempest" Service De-
gan with the exposition of appropriate
passages of Scripture, after which tn,
great congregation sang the hymn:
Heaven is my fatherland,
Heaven is my home.
The text was Mark (: 5G-39, describing
Christ sitting the tempest. He said:
Tiberias, Gslilee, Gennessret-thre'
names for the same lake. No other gen
ever had so beautiful q setting. 1t lay il
q scene of crest luxuriance: the sur
rounding hills high, terraced, sloped
! groved, so many hanging gardens o.
beauty, the waters rumbling down be-
! tween the rocks of gray and red lime
! stone, flashing from the hills and bounding
! into the sea. Ga the shore were castles
armed towers, Roman baths, everything
attractive and beautiful; all styles Of
vegetation in shorter space than in almost
any other space in al the world, from
the palm tree of the forest to the trees Of
| rigorous climate.
1t seemed as if the Lord had launched
one wave of beauty on al the scene, and
it hung and swung from rock and hill and
oleander. Roman gentlemen in pleasure
boats sailing the lake, and fsh-smacks
coming down to drop their nets, pass
each other with nod and shout and laugh
ter, or swinging idly at their mornings
On, what wonderful, what q beautiful
lake.
1t seems as if we shall have quiet
night. Not 8 leaf winked in the air;
NOT RIPPLE DISTURBED
the face of Gennesaret; but there seems
RI = liffla a.yciLa,,,ay1L n, lLa haorb ND
we hasten TO see Whist it is, and We find
1t an embaTkation.
From the western shore q hOtilla push
ing out; not squadron, or deadly armG-
ment, nor clipper with valuable merchan-
disc, nor pirate vessels ready to destroy
everything they could seize; but fotilla,
bearing messengers of life, and
light, and peace. Christ is in the front
of the boat. His disciples are in 8
smaller boat. Jesus, weary with much
speaking TO large multitudes, is put
into sOmnolence by the rocking of the
waves. II there was any motion at all
the ship was easily righted if the wind
passed from staroosTd to larbOard, or
from larboard to starboard, the boat
would rock, and by the gentleness of ths
motion putting the Master asleep. And
they eXtemporiZed g pillow made out of 8
tisherman's coat. l think no sooner is
Christ PROSTATE, and his head touched
the pillow, than he is sound asleep. The
breeZes of the lakes run their fingers
through the locks of the worn sleeper,
and the boat rises and fslIs like q sleep
ing child on the bosom of q sleeping
mother.
Calm night, starry night, beautiful
night. Run up all the sails, ply all the
oars, and let the large boat and the
small boat glide over gentle Gennesaret.
But the sailors say there is going to be 8
change of weather. And even the pas
sengers can hear the moaning of the
storm as it comes on with great stride,
and all the terrors of hurricane and dark
ness. The large boat trembles like
deer at bay among the Clangor Of the
hounds; great patches of foam are flung
into the air; the sails of the vessel loosen
and the sharp winds
CRACK LIKE PISTOLS;
the smaller boats like petrels poise on
the cliff of the waves and then plunge.
Overheard 60 cargo, tackliDg and
masts, snd The drenched disciples rush
into the back part of the boat, and lay
hold of Christ, and say unto Him: "Mas-
ter, carest Thou not that we perish?"
That CREST parsonage lifts His head from
tins pillow OF the tisherman's coat, walks
to the front of the vessel and looks ont
into the storm. All around Him are the
smaller boats, driven in the tempest, and
throuehsit comes the cry of drowning
men. By the fash Of the lightning see
the cAfm BROW OF Christ as the spray
4 from His beard. He has one
fUr the sky and another for the
waves. Looking upward He cries:
"Peace." Looking downward He says:
"Be still"
The waves fall fat on their faces, the
foam melts, the eXtinguished stars re-
light their torches. The tempest falls
dead, and Christ stands with his feet on
the neck of the storm. And while the
sailors are baIliDg out the boats, and
while they are trying to untaDgle the
cOrdage, the disciples stand in amaze
ment, now looking into the calm sea,
then into the calm sky, then into the
calm SsvfOr's countenanCe, and they cry
out: "What manner Of man is this, that
even the winds and the sea obey Him."
The subject in the first place impresses
me with the fact that it is very important
TO have Christ with the ship; for all those
boats would have gone to the bottom Of
Gennesaret if Christ had not been pres
ent. On, what lesson for you and for
me to learn, We must always have Christ
in the ship. Whatever voyage we under
take, into whatever enterprise we start,
let US always have Christ in the ship.
Many Of you in these days of revived
commerce are starting out in new f1nan-
cial enterprises. bid you good cheer
Do ell you can do. Do it on as high
plane as possible. You have no right to
be stoker of the ship If you can be an
admiral of the navy. You have no right
to be colonel Of the regiment
IF YOU CAN
command a brigade; you have no
right to be engineer of boat on river
bank or near the coast i you can take the
ocean steamer from New York to Liver
pool. All you can do with utmost ten
sion of body, mind and soul, you are
bound to do; but oh! have Christ in
every enterprise, Christ in every voyage,
Christ in every ship.
There are men here who ask God to |
help them at the start of great enter
Drises. He has been with them in the |
past; no trouble can overthrow them;
the storms might come down from the |
top of Mount Hermon and lash Gennes- |
8ret into foam and into agony, but it !
Gould not hurt them.
But here is another man who starts out |
u worldly enterprise, and he depends |
Upon the uncertainties of this life. He |
las no God to help him. After q while
he storm comes, and losses of the masts
II the shin: he puts ont his life-boat. and |